The Mother's Burden
by KrazyKeke
Summary: "When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child." Higurashi Kagome never once regretted the fact that her boy grew up wild; she realized that he could not be moved. Not by Garp. By his biological father and all his schemes. Marines. Or the Government. He will be the Pirate King...
1. The Start of a Legend

**Disclaimer**: I don't own One Piece or Inuyasha characters mentioned in the story, but I've always loved Kagome and Sesshōmaru, not to mention, Shanks, Garp, Kizaru, Whitebeard, Thatch, Marco, omg, just sooooo many okay

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[Party Bar]

"A toast! To Luffy's courage and our great voyage!" "Har har har! Drink up, drink up!" "Grog! Grog! More grog!" "Hey, that's MY meat!" "Not anymore! I'm gonna eat it!" "Hey! Stop fighting, you'll spoil our fun!"

"**LUFFY**, what on _earth_ possessed you to think that it was a good thing to stab yourself in the _face_?!" Hands on her hips, nostrils flaring with irritation and concern, even as she inspected the wound with gentle fingers, was a beautiful woman with midnight black hair, fair skin and bright blue eyes.

"It didn't hurt a bit!" Luffy insisted, even though his eyes were watering. "LIAR! That was a foolish thing to do!" The red-haired male with the straw hat, countered him, looking exasperated.

'Hmm, I bet it was some ridiculous tale _Shippō_ made up that halfway pushed you to this.' The woman sighed near silently as she recalled her eldest adoptive son and his mischievous nature. "I'm not the least bit concerned about getting hurt! I wanna be a pirate too!" Luffy demanded.

Just for the briefest moment, the red-haired man glanced subtly in the woman's direction. "Pirate my left foot! If you can't even sit still for your studies and eat your vegetables OR SWIM, it's not happening. Never. I'll never allow it, do you hear me?" Slapping her hands onto the flat of the table repeatedly to empathize her point, she then pointed a finger sternly at the boy.

"Aww but _Mom_..." Luffy tried to protest. "NO. No son of mine is going to be some ignorant slop. Those are the same types that your grandfather manages to snag so easily and off their heads go. Do you want to be a head shorter, eh, _**eh**_? Because you're already tiny, as is!" Trying to lay off the heat a little in this conversation, she added a forced playful tone.

"Cmon Cap'n, let's just take the lad with us. Just this once..." One random crew member piped up. "Aye." Agreed another. "Yeah!" Luffy threw his two cents in enthusiastically. "Okay, but one of you will have to stay behind..." Shanks certainly knew how to prove his point without saying much at all.

"Sorry lad, but you've just been beached. Let's have a drink!" the few people on Luffy's side predictably wandered off. "Hey! I thought you were on my side!"

"You're just too young, kid. Maybe in ten years I'll give you a chance." Shanks commented noncommittally, waving his spoon at the boy patronizingly. "Shanks, I'm telling you, I'm not a little kid!" Luffy frowned, grumbling. "Don't get upset now, here. Have some milk." The red-haired man gestured to the glass of ice cold milk with a light smile.

"Oh boy! Thanks!" Never one to turn down something free, Luffy snatched it up quickly, chugging it. "SEE! A REAL PIRATE WOULD NEVER DRINK MILK!" Tears of pure hilarity rolled down Shanks' cheeks. "That was a dirty trick!" Luffy whined. "Mom, Shanks is picking on me again..."

The woman quickly removed any signs of humor from her own face as Luffy turned in her direction with a hand-dog expression, lightly slapping Shanks on the arm. "Now, Shanks. You be nice to my Luffy..." The boy in question stuck his tongue out at the other adult while the woman wagged her finger at him. "He's as delicate as a freshly picked flower."

"DAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Shanks burst into laughter as Luffy's face immediately dropped at his mother's closing statement. "M—OM." Luffy was definitely gearing up for a temper tantrum.

"Don't you 'Mom' me, mister. What have I told you about tattling on others? Especially when you've equally been giving Shanks here all kinds of sass?" Tapping him gently on the nose, she placed a plate of food in front of him. "I've got to get going to my other job. Be good for Makino-chan while I'm away, alright?"

Shrugging out of her 'work uniform', she waved at the pirates and Luffy one more time before she went out the door. "Your mom works really hard. Two jobs..." Shanks commented in a fairly light tone, glancing at the boy who was currently stuffing his face. "'S three jobs, actually." Luffy swallowed a large gallop of meat. "She sews people's stuffs, she teaches people 'bout bows and arrows, and she works here. And she does it all while having time for Shippō and me." he grinned big and wide. "Mom is the greatest!"

"Mama's boy~!" Shanks teased, ruffling his hair and if his smile was a tad wistful, well, no one really noticed except his first mate. The door opened again and a boy with brown-auburn hair, and green eyes, entered the bar. He wore blue pants, a turquoise shirt patterned with leaves, and a tan vest with a thin black belt and simple black shoes, "Shippō, how's it goin'?"

The boy grinned. "Pretty good, Shanks-san! Mama sent me here so I didn't have to sit at home alone." he adopted a put out face and looked at Luffy with mock resentment, not that the younger boy could really tell the difference. "I was supposed to be helping some dumb kid swim today but he ditched, so oh well." Shanks looked mightily interested and Luffy fidgeted, beginning to look guilty. "You can swim already?"

Shippō took a seat on the opposite side of Shanks. "It's not like its that hard. Learned last year with Sesshōmaru-sensei." Shanks winced theatrically and the younger boy nodded solemnly. "Yeah, he's not a fan of failure. 'Get it right the first time, or don't waste my time at all' is his motto. I think he might be coming down later, 'm not really sure." Shrugging, he turned to Makino with a smile. "Can I get something to eat, please?"

SLAM! "Make way for the scourge of the mountains!" Everyone is drawn to the group that's suddenly entering the bar, and they look like a rowdy bunch. "Heh heh so you call yourselves pirates, eh? First time I've seen pirates. You look like a sorry lot to me." What was most likely the ring leader walks up to the front, ignoring Shanks' presence and half leans towards Makino, Shippō is ignoring the rough looking guy, digging into his meal with gusto, but Luffy just can't seem to look away from the unfolding drama. "We're mountain bandits. Oh, don't wet yourselves. We're not here to bust the place up unless you sell us 10 barrels of grog and then we might just injure the bare minimum."

"I'm sorry. We just ran out of liquor." Makino is flustered, unsure just how to take this new arrival. "Hmm? Then what are all these pirates drinking, fruit juice?" His sneer made the woman flush a bit, uncomfortable. "Its true. I just served the last of it."

"I kinda feel guilty. We drank up the last of the liquor. Sorry about that. Why don't you have this, its still unopened?" Shanks offered the bottle to the man with his usual friendly smile. The man glanced at Shanks uncomprehendingly and then burst the bottle over his head; the reactions to this was varied between amusement and shock, silence. "What do you take me for? You can't make a fool out of me. What good is one bottle of grog?" the man complained, looking down on the red-haired man.

"Oh man, what a mess." Shanks actually looked a bit like a kicked puppy at the moment. "Look at this. My head's worth 8, 000, 000 berries. I've killed 56 people, mainly fools like you. You watch yourself if you're fond of breathing. If you're smart, you'll stay away so I don't have to see you again." Shanks wasn't paying him much attention and instead was gathering up the broken glass. "Sorry for the mess, Makino. Give me a rag and I'll clean it up."Makino became even more flustered if that was possible. "Uh no, don't worry about it..."

The man, a bit irritated by Shanks' lack of reaction, used his sword to swipe out at the food and drink on the counter, smashing it into little pieces and drenching the red-head in the mess. "So you like to clean, that outta keep you busy for awhile. Hmph!" And then he turned. "Farewell, cowards." The entourage and the man left the establishment, complaining all the while.

"Captain, are you okay, are you hurt?" Makino was up and around the counter, checking on Shanks as soon as they were out the door. "I'm fine. No harm done." Shanks waved her off. "Phew!" He grinned and it was as if a dark cloud had lifted, the other pirates started laughing at his predicament.

"Hardy har har! Cap'n!" "He got you good!"

Shanks removed his straw hat and started laughing too. Even Shippō found it hard to hide his amusement, the man looked ridiculous. "You think its funny?!" Luffy demanded, all keyed up and Shippō sighed. "Huh?" Shanks didn't seem to get what the big deal was.

"He made you look like a weakling! Why didn't you fight him?! Sure they outnumbered you and sure they looked tough, but what kind of man gets treated like that and laughs about it? You're a disgrace to all pirates!" Luffy was in full blow temper tantrum mode. "...When you grow up, maybe you'll understand kid." Unspoken was the fact that Shippō _did_ indeed understand why he hadn't lost his shit when the man started acting like a peacock and threw his weight around. "He just got some grog on me. Needless killing don't make you a man." Returning his hat to his head, Shanks smiled disarmingly, and grabbed Luffy's arm when he attempted to march off. "Hey, where you going?"

"Hmph! To find a real role model." Shanks didn't release his arm and Luffy continued walking...his arm was stretched quite alarmingly. While the adults were panicking, Shippō was having his own version of a panic attack, dancing around the younger boy in alarm, chanting "Mama's gonna be so mad, Mama's gonna be so mad!" Getting more and more panicked the more he said it, and it had the effect of freaking out Luffy just as bad.

And their mom **was** quite pissed, as Shanks found out when she hauled off and smacked the taste out of his mouth the moment Luffy, in his anxiousness, flailed his arms around in nervous excitement once realizing she intended to make sweets; long story short, her vase and a painting or two suffered for it.

Of course, she didn't do this in front of the boys, she did know that he was currently their hero.

"–You're always doing this like this, irresponsible and reckless things. Ever since I've known you, you've been like that. Things have changed." she tried to stress this fact, running her hand through dark tresses in a frustrated motion. "I've changed."

"I know. I **know** that things are different. I do, really. And, I'm sorry." Shanks said earnestly, ignoring the fire burning his cheek, that'd likely bruise. "But I just want you to see that this really isn't totally my fault. I take my eye off the kid for one second and he's..." Unsure what to do with his hands, they hung at his sides limply.

"He's doing something completely crazy and retarded. I know." Trying to smile, the woman exhaled. "I expected a calm and reserved child, being who his father is, but I got a mini Garp minus the mountain smashing and insanity." Shanks chuckled, tense muscles relaxing. "I don't want him to be a pirate. But I know asking him to choose the safer career option would hurt his spirit." Studiously ignoring his 'Are you serious?' glance when she hinted about Luffy being a Marine.

"If he's going to emulate any sort of pirate, then I'm glad he chose you."

"Kagome..." Shanks' heart did a little flip in his chest and with the way she was currently looking at him, the red-head couldn't resist leaning in and kissing her. It was a chaste kiss by all accounts, just lips meeting lips but still there was a spark between them, and he could feel her heart hammering in her ribcage even as he reached out to bring her gently closer, but she placed restraining hands on his chest and he knew her answer to his affections without her saying a word.

Somehow her not speaking broke his heart just a bit more...

_**The next day**_

For all intents and purposes, today was actually a decent day, the sun was out, the weather pretty nice. Sesshōmaru had decided to come down and agreed to train Shippō if he showed promise, and it was just going really well. Things like that just didn't happen for Kagome. Not without something going catastrophically wrong.

"You've got your dirty foot on my boy's head! How dare you, who the f...udge do you think you are?!" Kagome demanded, ignoring the mayor who was practically grovelling and trying to negotiate with those spineless assholes. It was really...pissing her off.

"Mom, stay out of it! I can handle this creep all by myself." Luffy insisted, trying to lift himself up but the man just dug his heel in harder, and his little body, made of rubber or not, was not strong enough to throw him off. "Ah, this is your mother, eh? Well, rubber boy, what do you think she'd do in order to have you safely back in her arms?" And then he did a lewd gesture to suggest just what lows he thought she'd stoop to.

"Nobody came to greet us at the harbor. I was wondering what was going on..." Shanks' hat shaded his eyes, making him seem quite mysterious and dangerous without having to do much of anything at all.

"_You_ wondered. I've long since come to the conclusion that Higurashi and her clan often bring danger and intrigue or they're right in the thick of it." A handsome and yet frail-looking at the same time, tall and slender man retorted, his slitted golden eyes were expressionless, and his waist-length white hair with short bangs glittered in the sunlight, giving him an androgynous appearance altogether.

"Sesshōmaru, Shanks, its not that I'm unhappy about seeing you two. But can we get less chatty and more saving my son from being used as a stress ball!" Kagome piped up, irritated with their banter. The white haired man lifted an eyebrow. "These idiots are small fry and one can never do without more money. You take care of the problem."

Higuma, relieved that at least one of the men wasn't going to interfere (seemingly) and dismissing the woman altogether, he opened his mouth and started to do what he did best; talk. "I don't know what you want but you'd better back off before you get hurt. Come any closer and we'll kill you cowards."

Shanks took a step forward anyway and a bandit put a gun to his head. "Didn't you hear him?! Don't come any closer, or I'll blow your head off! Hahahahaha!" "Heh heh heh!" Shanks wasn't very fazed by the threat to his life however. "You're putting your life on the line by pointing that at me." he told the bandit. "Huh?! What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying it's not safe to point guns." Shanks grinned like the asshole he could be at times. Lucky Roo, eating meat as always, put a hole in the man's head as a demonstration about gun safety; he was dead so it was a moot point, but maybe he'd understand in the next life.

The body hit the ground with a dull thud. And everyone was stunned. "Now you've gone and done it!" "What've you done, that wasn't fair!" The bandits complained, as if this was just a joke, it was obvious that they were getting nervous though. However, the pirates were offended by their assumptions. "Fair?!" One random pirate demanded, disgusted. "Stop whining land lubbers! You're not dealing with saints here." Beckman scolded.

"We're pirates!" Shanks emphasized. "And we don't play by the rules." Then he grinned suddenly. "Not to mention you upset the kid's mom. She's not the sort of lady to take that laying down."

"Men. Always blathering on and on..." Kagome sighed. "I'd rather _do_ something instead of just talking about it." Higuma's eyes widened when he realized that his buddies had quietly met their end with some thin object applied to the base of their necks, his eyes strayed down to her hands; she carried a bloodied sewing needle... 'A sewing needle. No way. It can't be...'

"Listen up. You can pour drinks on me, throw food at me, or whatever. I'll just laugh that stuff off. But good reason or not. No one hurts a friend of mine." Of course, what he said only increased the hero worship in Luffy's eyes. Kagome resisted the urge to snort. "Take your regrets to the afterlife." Shanks commented cheerfully.

"But...the brat started it!"

"Doesn't matter. There's a price on your head, is there not?" Just before Kagome could end his pathetic life, he did the cowardly thing and used a smoke bomb to escape. What he did not know is that he had a very sadistic woman/mother on his heels. What she did not know is that everything was going to change, again.

What no one knew is that nothing would ever be the same again after this day.

The moment that Higuma kicked Luffy off the boat he had, a lavishly dressed figure dived neatly into the sea after him, the figure cutting through the water fluidly, long limbs erasing the distance between them steadily. "Hahaha!" Glug, glug, glug!

"?!" Luffy was staring at the large shape behind Higuma. "What the—aahh! Gyaaaaaah!" CHOMP-CHOMP! "Yaaa! Somebody help me!" The likelihood of someone hearing and helping were slim he realized though.

The sea king was in front of him in an instant, about to swallow him. Luffy's eyes were wide in his head, at the last moment, upon seeing its sharp teeth, he closed his eyes, expecting pain. He did not expect to be yanked out of the way with quite a bit of force and he opened his eyes, realizing that he was in Shanks' arms...but there was blood in the water. "S-Shanks...!?"

However, the red-haired man wasn't paying the boy any attention, instead, he was glaring at the sea king. "Get out of here." Shanks demanded, his entire expression cold and frightening. The sea king eyed its supposed meal(s) warily and Luffy was still oblivious in his hold, Shanks could not be moved, not backing down an inch.

To the boy's surprise, the beast actually swam away, as if _afraid_. And then he could take stock of the situation, the entire situation. Shanks was holding onto him with both arms, he was safe, he was okay. But someone had pushed him...Looking around, he realized that more people were getting in the water, coming out this far... Because it was Sesshōmaru who had ultimately saved his life by sacrificing his left arm in order to shove Luffy into Shanks' hands.

The blood in the water was coming from him.

It was on that day that Luffy understood why he couldn't go out to sea. The dangers were too great and he wasn't strong enough yet. But most of all, he realized what a great man Shanks was and how precious and unpredictable life was. He vowed to be just like Shanks and Sesshōmaru one day.

Ironically, Luffy's adventures began ten years later on that very same spot...

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And that's a wrap. Yay! New story. Woo woo. I'll be the first to admit that I dislike One Piece. Why am I doing a crossover with this series then, ya wonder? Well because it was a challenge. And since its a helluva long ass manga and I'm severely behind, we're in for a long haul. I will not abandon this story. Even if it takes me two years to complete, so do not send reviews asking about it if I occasionally get writers block or whatever. Let me be clear that this will eventually be a Kagome/Shanks love story. Eventually meaning, don't expect to see them diving into the sheets in three chapters. I'd say they actually acknowledge that there's something between them when Luffy gets his first bounty, and even say this aloud when Shanks has his little confrontation with Whitebeard, I'm thinking of letting them kiss after he ends the war like a boss. During the two year time skip, you'll see them getting closer and closer until they reach the point where it can't be denied any longer and then they have sex.

This story does not revolve around Kagome being a central figure, on the front lines. It plays indirectly on her worth as a parent. The political ramifications of her having been involved with a Revolutionary long enough to have his spawn, the pressure of raising Luffy to be a Marine by Garp and ultimately, she'd failed. People don't really touch on the reality of the fact that piracy is wrong, that there are bad pirates, because they're too focused on Luffy and how he's doing amazing things, challenging the government.

I want the story to show the indirect influences she had on Ace, Luffy and Sabo. For readers to know exactly why you should always look at both sides of the coin. That being said, some changes will apply to the storyline as a whole, there will be slash and lemons, limes, between everyone. Possibly threesomes and love triangles, love octagons, hell.

Review and enjoy the ride~


	2. Straw-Hat Luffy & Metal Dancer Shippō

**Disclaimer**: One Piece is copyright Eiichiro Oda, Shueisha, Fuji TV Avex, Madman Entertaiment, Animax and Toei Animation. Inuyasha is copyright Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, and SUNRISE. No copyright infringement is intended or implied.

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**Warning!**: There's some cross-dressing going on in this chapter. Or rather, any chapter that Shippō is featured in most likely. While he does this, he'll be referred to as 'Rima'.

"Wow! What a great day!"

This is no ordinary boy in a rowboat. This is a boy with a dream challenging the vast, treacherous sea in a tiny dinghy, searching for extraordinary men for his pirate crew!

"The weather's so nice! Who would've thought that this adventure would end in disaster so soon?"

Monkey D. Luffy.

"Hard to believe I'm getting sucked into this giant whirlpool. Maybe I was a little careless..." Luffy commented aloud to himself. "I could use some help but there's nobody around. Oh well, can't be helped. Down I go." he sighed. "Too bad I can't swim too. Ha! What was I thinking? In a giant whirlpool, it doesn't make a difference if you're a good swimmer or not." Pounding his fist into an opened palm, he looked quite enlightened. WRRRRRD. "Yikes!" SPLOSH! "Aaaaaah!"

[An uncharted island]

"Arara, the things I get into..." The long, curly auburn-brown haired , tan skinned, emerald eyed androgynous individual muttered, sighing discontentedly as the fat, er, big boned lady pirate, whined about a speck of dirt. 'Truly, some people let a little power get to their heads. Oh well, so far this gig is working out in my favor.'

"Aunty, I really think that Coby gets it, he being less than shit under your shoes and all." Unable to stomach the sight of the pink haired little guy getting his ass kicked again after the small interval of time his other ass-kicking by the pirates on board had occurred, the taller of the two snagged the pink haired boy by his collar, yanking him away from Alvida's feet. The woman began to turn puce, undoubtedly gearing up for a temper tantrum. "Its okay if I borrow him, right? You wouldn't want me to be a hapless infant when I set out to sea, it was your sister's last wish..."

The males were beginning to whisper, wondering where Alvida's 'relative' got her gall from. Nonetheless, all eyes were on the woman and not wanting her crew to think she was without compassion (ha!), she forced a throaty chuckle which sounded sexy to her ears but in reality was like a frog choking, and waved the duo away. "Of course, of course, Rima-dear! Don't forget to scrub the toilets though, got it Coby?"

The pink haired boy almost wilted. "Yes ma'am. ...right away." Eager to get away from the ridiculousness of it all, the auburn-brown haired female yanked Coby's arm as she walked away, missing Alvida's scowl but feeling her stare burning a hole into her back. "Keep up." The young woman instructed, barely looking over her shoulder as she said this but even if she hadn't, the 'or else' wasn't necessary.

Coby knew her habits, the limits she'd go to when helping him. Toilet duty was not one of the places she would help out...

Later in the day, when the ship was docked for the day and Coby had most of his chores done, completed and out of the way, Rima offered help rolling the barrel of what was likely rum, to the storage area of the pirates' hide-out.

"What's that Coby, Rima-chan, did a barrel of rum wash up on the ocean?" A bald pirate queried, interested. "Y-Yeah, and it's not empty! I don't know what to do with it." Coby replied, although he was terrified, he knew that unofficially, he was the girl's protector, should something...unseemly happen to her, it would come down on his head. So for her sake, he tried to stand a little taller, be a bit braver.

"Well I know what to do with it! Lets drink it all up!" One pirate with long hair suggested, grinning at the thought of his brilliant plan. "But if the captain finds out, she'll have our heads!" The baldy wasn't so sure. "She'll never find out. We're the only ones here. Besides, Rima-chan doesn't care much about things like this, if you hadn't noticed. Just us and Coby really know or care about this." The other and final nimrod was wearing a type of striped bandana and just looked devious to begin with.

"I guess you're right..." Baldy was easily swayed. "And you ain't seen nothin', right Coby?" The bandana idiot practically stalked over to Coby, using his height to his advantage and looking as threatening as possible, which wasn't much to Rima who merely watched on, bored. Coby was predictably shitting himself with worry though. "R-Right, I-I ain't seen nothin', please don't hit me!"

SMASH. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAWN! THAT WAS A GREAT NAP!" And then a familiar straw hat wearing figure burst from the barrel in an atypical slash totally stupid way. "What the devil?!" The pirates were freaking out, unsure what in the hell was exactly going on. "Hmm...looks like I survived somehow. I got so dizzy, I thought I was gonna barf. Hahahahaha!" The person, a newly dubbed idiot, continued on.

"?!" "!" "...Huh? Who are you guys?" The straw hat menace asked, clueless. No one quite realized when Rima snuck off. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" The pirates demanded in complete agreement and synchronization. "What were you doing in there?!" Bandana Man demanded, getting all up in Luffy's face and the teen boy leaned his head back a little bit, frowning.

VWOOSH-VWOOSH! "Get back to work, you scurvy dogs!" KA-BASH! "!" "ARGH!" "ARGH!" The warehouse suffered quite a bit as a result, Luffy and the barrel went bouncing into a tree far from the rest of the other pirates who were dazed and trying to sit up, get back their equilibrium.

"I told you, Aunty. I told you that they were slacking off and one even was going to take a nap—while on duty. Sacrilege! Blasphemy!" Rima was totally pointing fingers now, hyping the situation more than it needed to be as the idiot pirate trio realized and as the fat woman got more and more furious, the auburn-brown haired beauty looked around curiously then asked the million berry question, "Where's Coby?"

As the idiot trio scrambled to cover their own asses, pleading for forgiveness, for mercy, they hadn't known that Alvida's blood pressure was through the roof, she was primed and ready for a fight. And if the infamous bounty hunter, Roronoa Zoro, was there, well. All the better. With these thoughts bouncing around in her head, she took off to find the brat.

None noticed Rima's expression when the man's name was brought up...

(Meanwhile, with Coby and Luffy)

"Um, are you okay? Are you hurt? After getting knocked around so much you must be-" Coby stood over Luffy, just staring at the teen. "Hahahaha! I'm fine. Just a little surprised is all. My name's Luffy, where am I?" Coby blinked and then internally shrugged.

"The island is the hide-out of Iron Mace Alvida, the pirate. I'm her cabin boy, Coby." The bespectacled teen introduced himself. Luffy finally got himself out of the barrel, barely sparing a glance in the other boy's direction. "I see, well, none of that really matters to me." Luffy had no problem being blunt, Coby realized, a bit unbalanced by how indifferent he was to all this. "Oh..."

Half turning his head to look at Coby, Luffy spoke again, "You wouldn't happen to have a dinghy would you? Mine got sucked into a giant whirlpool." And that wasn't something you heard everyday.  
"You got sucked into a giant whirlpool!?" Coby demanded, incredulously. Luffy sighed, with a tiny frown. "Yeah, it caught me by surprise." Shaking his head in disbelief, Coby adjusted his glasses on his face, "You're lucky to be alive. But if you want a dinghy, I have one. Sorta."

Standing up, he went off to retrieve said item for the strange boy in front of him, though he did need a little help, not that he'd admit it... "What is this? A coffin?!" Coby could only look at Luffy, feeling the beginnings of a headache. "I built it myself. It took two years..." Just a tiny note of expaseration, maybe even protectiveness coated his tone. "Two years, and you don't want it?" Luffy couldn't wrap his head around that fact.

Coby seemed to visibly wilt. "...I don't need it anymore. I built it to escape from this place, but I don't have the courage. I guess my fate is to be a cabin boy for the rest of my life. But I once had a dream." Luffy frowned, puzzled. "Then why don't you just escape?" he asked. "No way. Nuh-uh. Just thinking about what Alvida would do to me if she caught me makes my bladder weak. I can't risk it." Sighing, he added a bit wistfully. "I'll never forget that day two years ago. I boarded a pirate ship by mistake; in exchange for my life, i've been a cabin boy ever since."

Luffy was completely deadpan. "You're kinda clumsy and dumb. And you're gutless too. You really are worthless." These observations were made with a quirky half smile that was quickly becoming a trademark. "Ehehehe, you don't have to be that frank..." Coby bemoaned. "But you're right, I don't have the guts to float around a barrel like you. Luffy, why did you want to go to sea anyway?" The curiosity couldn't be held in check any longer.

At this point, Luffy's smile was so wide, it stretched his face to painful proportions. "Well, ya see. I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" Coby was flabbergasted. "K-King of the Pirates?! But you'd have to make the whole world kneel to you! Wealth, fame, power! You'd have to achieve it all! Don't tell me you're after Gol Roger's lost treasure, One Piece?! Do you want to die? Every pirate in the world is after that." The pink haired boy couldn't help how he half shouted at the black haired teen, he really was quite stupid, it seemed. "And so am I." Luffy was indifferent to the shouting.

"But the odds against you are astronomical. Its impossible! You want to be Pirate King in the Golden Age of piracy!? It'll never happen." His pessimistic nature was showing. Pow! Luffy socked him one. "Ow! Hey! Why'd you hit me?!" Coby was a whiner, Luffy was quickly realizing.

It was going to take quite a bit of convincing and subtle (not so subtle compared to the manipulation his other siblings had been capable of, obviously) motivating to get him out of this funk and to the core of the matter. The hero worship in which the other boy regarded him was obvious to see, even to someone like him, who wasn't overly aware of anything not thrown directly in the path which he wanted to take. Someone would take advantage of him, scratch that, someone already had taken advantage of him. But, since Luffy was nice like that, he decided to help the shorter boy out.

Especially when some fat lady appeared, swinging a spiked club thing, smashing Coby's boat to smithereens and the pink haired boy probably shit his pants in fear at that moment. "Hey, who's that tough-looking old biddy?" Being blunt always worked in his favor before, throwing in an extra smile made his opponents, future and present, angry; anger made people careless.

"How dare..." "No way!"

"Luffy, take it back! Throughout of all the seas, Lady Alvida is..." Tears started to gather in Coby's eyes as he remembered minutes before Luffy's encouragement, indirect and vague as it had been. The determination to be Pirate King. "Lady Alvida is..." The tears ran over as he remembered Rima offering him something to eat when he'd been denied food for days. "LADY ALVIDA IS THE UGLIEST HAG OF ALL!" His declaration reverberated throughout the clearing, echoing continuously it seemed.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Luffy burst into laughter and Alvida loomed over the shorter boy imposingly. "YOU LITTLE-!" Coby cowered inwardly but didn't move a muscle or flinch, Luffy shoved him out of the way. "Good for you, Coby!" The straw hat congratulated the boy upon finally tossing off those mental shackles that were always, always weighing him down.

"It makes no difference to me. You're both going to die!" As the mace came down, Luffy was prepared for it. ...Only red splattered his cheek and he quickly identified the substance as blood, just as he fired off his Gum Gum Pistol attack. 'What...?' As the fat woman flew backwards, and the person who neatly side-stepped her, unlike the unfortunate pirates, had a familiar colored hair.

"Geez. With that dumb look on your face, you really worry your nee-chan, Lu." Hands planted on her hip and standing provocatively, was Rima, loosely holding a scimitar that was caked in blood; it didn't take much deduction to realize that she'd struck the woman as soon as Luffy'd attacked her. So in a way, it was a double assault, and one that she couldn't defend against.

"N-Nee-chan?" Coby blinked, dumbfounded, off-balance by the happenings of the last few minutes, hell, the last half hour. "Another time, Coby." Rima smiled and started swinging the blade side-to-side, removing the blood as best she could before returning it to its decorative sheath.

Luffy however wasn't focused on Coby or Rima, instead turning to the cowed pirates. "Give Coby a dinghy! He's going to join the Navy!" The pirates sweated a little. "Y-Yes sir." Coby was extremely touched. "Luffy..." and started crying again.

The pirates could only watch on, totally cowed by the little slip of a girl who grabbed Alvida by her foot and began dragging her with unexpected strength, smearing the ground more with her life's blood. "Oi, nee-chan! When we lost contact a year ago, this is where you were?" Luffy grinned, unperturbed and undisturbed by the gruesome sight.

"Here and there, all over, Lu. The life of an assassin is an unpredictable one." Rima called back. "WHAT? ASSASSIN!?"

Luffy laughed at their reaction.

That night, after Coby was asleep on the dinghy, Luffy couldn't contain his emotions, having been restrained for so long and bear hugged Rima. The auburn-brown haired girl stiffened in his embrace, as if expecting to be attacked, but then relented and hugged the straw-hat wearing boy with surprising strength, the feeling of a curiously flat chest and lean muscle felt nice against his own, the scent of woods and earth clung to her person, even though she'd been at sea for many years.

"I missed you, Shippō." he murmured, whispering that forbidden name and earned a quick poke to the ribs in silent reprimand before Rima, no, Shippō, patted his head and kissed his cheek. "I missed you too, Luffy." The deeper baritone was calming in its own way and he received no protests when he laid his head on Shippō's leg, eyes half closing, just content to be in this moment.

Unspoken between them was the fact they'd not be telling Coby that she was really a **he**. The boy really was dumb and unobservant. How he'd end up as a Marine was yet to be seen...

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And that's a wrap. Bit disappointed that I only got two reviews. I just...okay. I guess it's better than nothing. Since I'm working again, 2 til 10 pm from now on til I find a better job, time is going to be limited. And I'm totally geeked about Sims 4 coming out, which I'll be saving up for. But the point of this is well, until I see at the least **ten** reviews, the next chapter, already half done, can wait. I've already got the idea in mind about how the Shikon jewel comes into play here, Kagome's duty as it's protector, the twin bond between she and Kikyo, their strained relationship with their mother, and more. I suspect this story will have at least 70 chapters by the time I'm done with it...

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**Q & A Corner:**

_Q_: Yay! One piece crossover!

I find it intresting that you had sesshoumaru lose his arm instead of shanks, you would think that if shanks lost it to save luffy that might inturn help shanks get a bit more closer to his mom. *shurgs* but this is just me.  
I do have a few questions though, is shippou kagomes real kid or adopted? Does kagome herself have a bounty? I have so much more to ask but i shall hold it all in, till a later point in time.  
i absolutly cant wait for more of the changes that wil be happening though out your story!

_A_: Canonically, Sess lost his arm to Inuyasha. In this story, their relationship still isn't as brotherly as it should be, but they're not actively trying to kill each other. Also, there's no guarantee that I won't have Shanks lose his arm at a later date anyway. Shippō is not Kagome's biological child, only Luffy is. Ace however, is related to her distantly, as it will be mentioned later in the story.

And yes, Kagome has a bounty, the Navy would just rather have her alive than dead and actively under their thumb to control her, which, as we know, canonically or not, just isn't possible.

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**Preview of the next chapter**: _A hand wrapped around the graceful column of Shippō's throat. Fingers tightened only once, warningly. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't snap your neck - mark your body as you did to my soul when you betrayed me." _


End file.
